Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-02-18
SiCRAMENT0.
It was al odd name for girl-sacra,

So the girl herself thought as she
stopped down beside spring at the foot
Of cottonwood tree and lazily dropped
her pail into the water.
1T ought to have been given to boy
If it was a fit name to give anybody, ="
she said quite aloud. "But I'm moro
boy than girl, anyway" g.,
x This fact YVES added rather bitterly,
IS she looked at her brown, rough
hands and her bare ankles, and thought
Of the "boy's work" she had to do.
And it was hard to believe that this
was the best kind of a life for young
girl like Sacramento. Here she lived
alone, for her father was down at the
mouth of the canon all day. The gar
den work she was obliged to do, and the
care of the cattle fell upon her. It was
not often that she saw any person but
her father, although now and then, in
spite of herself, she came in contact
with the rude men of the mining camp
up above.
Yet Sacramento had her dream, one
that she scarcely dared own," but it
came to her often as she went about her
work
She knew that down at Santa Barba-
"a and in the towns along the coast, and
far, far away across wide stretches of
continent to the great east, there were
girls who lived very different from her
life, and she dreamed of such life for
herself
ooh, if could only go away from
here!" she cried out, almost as one cries
out for help" If 1 could only go down
to San francisco and go to school there
for a single year! All, if only had
$500"
Suddenly there was a step--not Of a
mnn, but horse--on the bank behind
her, and then some one spoke. She
knew the voice without looking up. It
was Pete Larrabee, fellow who lived
down on Hahnemanns plantation, two
miles along the trail. He sometimes
rode by. He had not heard her last
words at all; yet strangely enough his
own were repetition of them.
Five hundred dollars, Sac," said he.
$500 in gold! Dye want to earn it?
Theirs yer chance" and he threw down
to her bit Of paper crumpled into q
ball.
She picked it up, and slowly unfold
ing it, ran her eye over its contents:
$500 REWARD.
The above amount will be paid for in
formation leading to the arrest, dead or
alive, Of Walter Somers who has worked
for some time past on Maxwell's ranch.
Said Somers is about ID years old and
81 feet high, rather good looking, with
light, curly hair, blue eyes and light
mousbache. When last seen he had on
black SLOUGH hat, gray business suit,
with blue flannel shirt, and boots with
red tops marked with the makers name.
The name of the county sheriff was
signed at the bottom of the bill. Sacra-
mento, having glanced it through, looked
up.
"He's been stealin' horses" ex-
claimed Pete. "Got off last night with
four OF Maxwell's best somewheres.
That reward won't do much good
though. The Regulators'n lasso him
and string him up long fore the law'll
git started. They're hayin' meetin'
now up at the Gulch I tell ye they
are mad. They'll make quick work if
they ketch him. Yer fathers there.
Ye needn't look for him home afore
night, much.">
Then, after word or two more, the
man rode on, and presently Sacramento
took up her pail, and with the sheriff's
bill still in her hand went slowly up the
bank and across the trail toward the
house, thinking very seriously about
the $500 all tho while.
Ii was some hours after this, and the
afternoon sun was going down behind
the tops of the noun tains, that Sacra-
lnento, having finished her homework,
was preparing to sit down on the porch
to DO her sewing, when she was met in
the doorway by q young man she Ind
never seen before. And yet he was no
stranger. The girl knew him instantly,
although the SLOUGH hat was pulled
down over the haxen hair and blue eyes,
and the gray pants, torn and muddy,
had been drawn out Of the boot-legs so
as to no longer allow the red tops O: the
boots with the owners name to be seen.
It was the horse-thief.
She did not, however, express any
surprise as she saw him. She was &C.
customed to the sight of rough, evil
men; and at the first glance she had
felt that this one could not be either
very wicked or very dangerous. He was
not much more than a lad, and had an
air OF gentleness and good breeding
about him that six months Of western
life, and the miserable plight he was in
at that moment had by no means de-
stroyed. He seemed to be short for
breath, too, and was trembling as if he
had been running.
Instinctiyely he raised his hand to-
ward his hat, and then, bethinking hinl-
self, dropped it again.
Gould you give me something to eat
and drink?" he asked, in q hesitating
voice. Anything will do. I am very
hungry. II have had nothing to eat
since last night"
"Come in" said Sacramento, gravely.
In her voice there was neither kind
ness nor unkindness, she trying to real
ize the situation she was in. Come in
and sit down." # s--
g.. Then she went into the closet near
BY and began taking down milk and
bread and meat, as she slowly did so
turning over the matter M her mind.
Here was this man who had been steal
ing horses and for whose capture $500
was offered, in her own kitchen. Ex-
actly the sum she had been wishing for
the sum that would take her down to
San Francisco to school and help to